Jules Cheret Analysis

Jules Chéret Born May 31,1836 in Paris to a poor but creative family of artisans was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of Belle Époqueposter art, French for Beautiful Era.

At age 13 he began a three year apprenticeship with a lithographer where his interest then led him to take an art course at the Ecole and Nationale de Dessin, This Poster was the first Poster made for the Moulin Rouge, called "La Goulue" (1891), His work is part of the art nouveau movent as it has similarities to other pieces of work from that time period, however Jules Cheret seemed to make it more of his own and add his own touch, I chose to analyse this particular piece of his work as it was his first poster made, which gained him a lot of recognition for his other posters, From 1859 to 1866 he was trained in Lithography in London where he was highly influenced by the British approach to poster design and printing, his other main influences was Rococo which developed in the early 18th century in Paris, as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry, and strict regulations of the Baroque, especially of the Palace of Versailles such as Jean- Honore Frangonard and Antoine Watteau.
(work by Jean-Honore Frangonard)

He created posters in many categories such as Operas, Ballets, Pantomimes, Balls and Dance Halls, Newspapers and Magazines and Novels

Cheret became known for the beauties of the Moulin Rouge dancers which featured in his posters which all filled the streets of Paris, the flirty and vibrant dancers was seen all over on Kiosks and other locations throughout the city. 

As his work became more familiar to people and his posters showing  free-spirited females were able to attract a broader audience, pundits began calling him the "father of the women's liberation." Females had previously been portrayed ass prostitutes in art, However the women shown in his posters where usually referred to as 'Cherrettes' which where the complete opposite to prostitutes, It was a relief for the women living in Paris at the time, and introduced a evidently more open atmosphere where women were able to take part activities that would have been seen as 'Taboo' before, for example, wearing low cut clothing and smoking in public.
                                                                                           (Georges de Feure)           
In 1895 he came up with the
 Maîtres de l'Affiche which was a collection of original works from ninety seven artist who were born or raised in Paris, but in a smaller 11 x 15 inch format, his success inspired many and started of a new generation of poster designers and painters such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who was was a French painter, print-maker, draughtsman and illustrator, one of his students was Georges de Feure who was a theatrical poster designer, and by looking at his work  you can clearly see his was inspired by Jules Cheret, as the women drawn in both the posters both have an art nouveau look about them.

 Personally I like the simplicity seen in some of Jules Cherets work, for example in many of his posters he uses mainly primary colours such as reds and blues and yellow, I feel this is effective because it makes the main subject stand out, which is the woman and would have given people an idea about what the poster is for even if they were just walking past, also I noticed in this particular poster Cheret only coloured the section behind the woman, leaving the rest of the page almost neutral, therefore making the typography stand out even more, I also like the delicacy of the painting of them women dancing as it can been as trying to show how free and fun these women in the posters are. 

Saul Bass

Saul Bass (May 8th, 1920- April 25th, 1996) was born in the bronx, New york to Eastern European Jewish immigrant parents, and was said to have been very creative as a child and drew constantly, he went to James Monroe High school in the bronx where he also graduated, before being awarded a scholarship in 1936 to study part time in Manhattan at the Art Students League, but then began taking night classes at Brooklyn college with Gyorgy Kepes who was a painter, designer and art theorist and introduced Saul to Moholy's Bauhaus style and to Russian Constructivism, which may have influenced his later work with title sequences and posters as there is great use of lines and geometric shapes, also his use of composition he does not arrange everything neatly in his work, they usually have a jagged or angled look.

Bass is an American Graphic designer and award winning film maker and is mostly known for his film posters, title sequences and corporate logos, during his career he has worked with some of hollywoods important film makers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Billy Wilder, One of his most famous title sequences is the animated is for 'The man with the golden arm' where the whole sequence is an animated paper cut out of a heroin addicts arm.
He also designed some of the biggest corporate logos in America such as, the Bell system logo (1969), AT&T's globe logo (1983), and Continental Airlines and United Airlines with both become some of the most known airline logos of that era.

Before 'The Man with the Golden Arm' was released, projectionists at cinemas would usually not open the curtains to show the screen until after the title sequence had finished due to them being so dull, however when 'The Man with the Golden Arm' arrivied at movie theaters in 1955 there was a note on the cans telling the projectionist to keep the curtains open during the titles as the director and producer, Otto Preminger wanted the audience to see the titles as a necessary part of the film.

His time in Hollywood took off in the 1940's where he was designing print advertisements for films such as, Champion, Death of a salesman and The Moon is blue, however in 1954 he made his first collaboration with Otto Preminger whilst designing a film poster for 'Carmen Jones', Preminger was so happy with the outcome he asked Bass to produce the title sequence as well, this was when he realised he could create a title sequence that could be entertaining for an audience and contribute to the mood and the theme of the movie within the opening moments, he was one of the first to realise the creative potential of the opening and closing credits of a film, although it was in 1955 after the realease of 'The Man with the Golden arm' that Saul Bass became widely known in the film industry.

He work as a freelance graphic designer/commericial artist after apprenticeships with Manhattan design firms, he moved to from New York to Los Angeles in 1946, and by 1950 had opened his own studio, mainly concerntrating on advertising until Preminger asked him to design the poster for his film, Carmen jones

Bass also created a new type of moving typography for the title sequence for the film 'North By Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho, before his title sequences in the 1950's title sequences were usually very still and there was usually no link between the sequence and the film, but Saul was able to change this, it was this kind of work that made him a respected as a graphic designer.

He had once said his main goal for his title sequences was to "try to reach for a simple, visual phrase that tells you what the picture is all about and evokes the essence of the story"

He designed title sequences for over 40 years and created a variety of film making techniques, from cut out animation to fully animated mini films and live action sequences, which usually were used as prologues to the films as they easily transitioned into the first scene, for example in the film 'The Victors' the opening sequence is used to show the 27 years between World War I and the middle of World War II, where the film begins.

Accompanied by his second wife Elaine he created other amazing title squences for other directors,in 1968 he then directed a series of shots in an Oscar-winning short documentary film, 'Why Man Creates' where he finally realised his desire to direct a feature, in which he went on to direct a feature length American Sci-fi film called Phase IV in 1974.

Nearing to the end of his career he created title sequences for Martin Scorsese who had grown up respecting his film work, while collaborating also with his wife they created the title sequences for the films Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence and Casino, his late work with Scorsese abled him to explore with the use of computerized effects instead his original optical techniques.

April Greiman Analysis

April Greiman is a Designer born in metropolitan New York City in 1948, and is widely recognized as one of the first designers to use computer technology as a design tool.
She currently teaches at Woodbury University, and has received four Honorary doctorates and also the American Institute of Graphics Arts Gold Medal.

Her design education began when she decided to apply for an Art school, Rhode Island School of Design however she failed in part of the application where she had to draw a pair of old boots, however it was pointed out that her portfolio was very strong in Graphics and they suggested she applied for a Graphics Design course which led her to apply at Kansas City Arty Institute, where she began to study Graphic design between 1966 and 1970, there she was introduced to the principles of Modernism by Inge Druckrey, Hans Alleman and Chris Zelinsky who had all studied at the Basel School of Design, which pushed Greiman to make the decisions to move to Switzerland to study at the allgemeine Kunstgewerberschule basel 1970 to 1971, she was a student of Wolfgang Weingart and Armin Hoffman, who are both well known Graphic Designers she was highly influenced by the International style as she explored it in great depth, the International style is a major architectural style said to have emerged in the 1920's & 30's.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1976, in the 70's many contemporary designers believed that digitalisation and computers would endanger the International style, yet Greiman did not agree with this belief and made sure made use of and other digitalisation "errors" as essential parts of her digital art.

In 1982 she became head of the design apartment at the California institute of the Arts, whilst there she devoted her time to exploring design education as she had access to state of the art video and digitizing equipment, using video and analogue computer to combine different elements through the new media, she knew that the new and upcoming technologies in graphic design would soon be put into every day design practice.

In 1986 Greiman was invited to design and showcase her own work in issue #133 of design quarterly, entitled 'Does it make sense?", instead of the standard thirty two page sequence she reformatted the magazine as a poster that folded out to almost three by six feet which showed a life size image of her digitized naked body against a background of symbolic images and text

In 1995 Greiman designed a postal stamp to celebrate the Nineteenth Amendment to the United states constitution for women's voting rights, which was used by the U.S Postal service, in 2006 her digital photography work 'Drive-by Shooting', was exhibited at Pasadena Museum of California Art, it a project she had began over 26 years before it was shown, using a 5mm Nikon, then a Polaroid SX-70

"Hand Holding a Bowl of Rice" was the biggest piece of work she had created  in 2007 which was a public mural spreading over seven stories on two builds which marked the entrance to the Whilshire Vermont Metro station in Los Angeles.